University of Georgia gets Newsweek’s high marks

Newsweek released its rankings of the nation’s best colleges, and the University of Georgia landed spots in four of the 25 categories.

The campus’ beauty, health of its students, potential for future politicians and its inexpensive price gave UGA its edge on the “Newsweek and The Daily Beast College Rankings 2011.”

The Daily Beast (www.thedailybeast.com) is the online home of Newsweek magazine.

For the second straight year, Newsweek measured the nation’s colleges and listed the best 25 in categories ranging from most service-oriented to best weather. Their goal is to provide students with a list of colleges based on their philosophy that “different schools are best for different types of students.” Their rankings include data collected by the National Center for Education Statistics, the College Board, the Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, the Sustainable Endowment Institute, the Washington Monthly and directly from students.

UGA made the top 10 in two categories: Most Beautiful (No. 8) and Healthiest (No. 10). Universities in the most beautiful category were judged based on both campus appeal — architectural details like Old College and the lush oaks and trial gardens — and eye-catching students. Schools scored well for healthy pursuits based on student health care, campus food, physical activity, drug scene and sexual health.

To come up with the category in which UGA placed 12th — Future Politicians — Newsweek collected numbers on how many graduates of these institutions have become president or are a current U.S. senator or representative.

In the ranking of cheapest universities, UGA came in 19th. Institutions were first ranked according to tuition. Then Newsweek considered student financial aid. For UGA, in-state tuition at the time of the rankings rounded out to $18,000 a year, and 93 percent of students received financial aid.

UGA doubled its placement on the rankings in 2011, moving from two in 2010 to four this year. The 2010 rankings, which were collected by Kaplan and Newsweek, placed UGA in the Most Desirable Large Schools category (No. 20) and on the Stocked with Jocks list (No. 24). These categories were not included in the 2011 rankings.